A Sword Without a Hilt: A Song of Ice and Fire/D&D 3.5 Crossover

Twenty-Second Day of the Tenth Month 293 AC

Having found the Chosen of the Maiden and the lord of Greyshield agreeable in aiding against the creeping darkness of the north, you wonder if perhaps they might not be amenable in joining in battle against another one. This island stands in the midst of the Sunset Sea and setting them here to guard against the threat of the Deep Ones is perhaps the only wise decision Mace Tyrell has made since magic returned to the world. No, too soon for an alliance, with only a fragile truce standing between you and all out war against them. Better to settle the contentions between the Old Gods and the New before you fight side by side. It would be distasteful to turn upon those you have shed blood besides.

However, that is not to say you cannot share some lore about the foe in hopes that the balance tilts to fellowship. "Are you veiled against foresight?" you ask first, knowing the future holds few secrets from the foul lords of the deeps.

"We both are, yes," lord Greyshield replies. Though he places only the slightest emphasis upon the word you suspect he disapproved in no small measure of Danelle meeting you without such a ward during the Conclave.

You go on to explain that you have found otherworldly allies against the Deep Ones, former slaves who dwell within Limbo's shifting tides. "The Githzerai have been making war upon them across the endless planes since before men first came to Westeros, they are skilled as they are determined," you finish your account.

"If they are so mighty as all that what is to stop these strangers from lingering past your invitation and crafting a new realm to feed their war?" Ice-blue eyes look at your reassuringly. At least the suspicion is not aimed directly at you.

"Their faith, their very way of life is defined by the realm of Limbo and that is where their powers are honed." Lya intervenes. "If they should leave it to forge an empire than they would not be Githzerai for very much longer."

"Moreover, they have little reason to make war when they can trade. Their mind-craft is rare indeed, one mortal men cannot touch," you offer. Not strictly true given Jeyne and your plans for the Flesh Forge, but the reassurance is no less true for that.

"That is not entirely true," Danelle speaks up to your surprise. "We have found three cases of those awakening not 'ordinary' sorcery, if such a term can be used, but mind-craft as you call it. Old blood coming to the fore perhaps, or else the touch of some subtle malignancy."

"It would seem young Jeyne was not a singular project," Varys whispers into your thoughts. It's all that you can do not to curse aloud.

"Did any of these mind-mages show themselves to be enthralled by the Deep Ones?" you ask urgently.

"All of them," Danelle sighs. "One took his own life when confronted, the second, a child barely past his seventh nameday, killed several people, including his own grandfather, with conjured lightning before he was slain, the third I tried to exorcise by the Maiden's grace, but there was no fiend or other spirit upon her. She fell dead upon the cobbles of Lannisport as though I had stopped her heart."

"What were they doing, these hidden agents?" you press, mind whirling with the possibilities. How many more of these unknowing thralls were there ready to serve as a hidden dagger in the hand of the Deep Ones?

"You know more of what this is," the winter touched sorcerer's words are not a question, his eyes fixed upon Lya's expression.

Only the Deep Ones would profit by the mistrust that a denial would breed. "Yes, but I would like to hear more of what they have been doing in the Westerlands."

"The boy had just sworn himself to a septry near Sarsfield, the woman I could not save was a chambermaid in Casterly Rock, and the one who took his life was the maester of Faircastle," Danelle explains grimly. "We could not recover the maester's remains to question, but the others reveled nothing when I tried to make them speak." Because the poor bastards had not really been dead, but captive.

How much do you explain about the Deep One agents?

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OOC: I figured it would make sense to give you guys a break point here, since it's your call how much to reveal about Jeyne and your plans for making psions.